Saturday, September 8, 2007
Firefox Reaches 400 Million Downloads (tear)
11:45PM Mark Wilson | Since its launch on November 9th, 2004, Firefox’s downloads have continued doubling on a yearly basis. And now, they’ve reached the blessed, fabled, Holy Grailish 400 million mark. OK, maybe there’s nothing special about 400 million in particular, but it seems like an impressive amount. And congrats to the Mozilla on their free product. Because without it, I couldn’t do my job. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Safari and Explorer. And no, I didn’t know you were standing right there, Opera, but I sort of don’t care.) Let’s all dork out and list our favourite extensions in the comments. [spreadfirefox via boygeniusreport] More »
Microsoft And Siemens Bring In-Car Entertainment To Your Buggy
11:45PM Gizmodo US Edition | Microsoft and Siemens are set to collaborate to bring in-car entertainment and navigation products to a vehicle near you. They hope to develop a set of products that will allow for a better integration between mobile phones, music players and other ubiquitous gadgets. An announcement, last Friday, set 2009 as the expected year for the first devices to be made commercially available. Specific details are not available yet, but it’s early days yet. Now, here’s hoping your car’s system does not encounter fatal error 08 around the time you usually take your involuntary—”I think I have narcolepsy, I am too stubborn to see a medical professional”—daily driving nap. [Reuters] More »
Apple Readying iTunes Movie Rental Service?
10:00PM Gizmodo US Edition | Astute Flickr community member, David Watanabe, spied several possible error messages from within the “Report A Problem” list in iTunes, all indicating movie rental capabilities. One such message reads; “MZCancellationReason.DidNotReceive-RentalMovie.” A plethora of other messages also make reference to some form of a movie rental service. The list of messages can be seen above. As yet, we are unable to confirm the list; drop your findings below if you can substantiate the claim. Given this is not the first time we have been here, if true, it could be possible that this is merely a remnant of Apple’s earlier, beleaguered ambitions. [Flickr]. More »iTunes 7.4.1 is out. No idea if it musses …
1:34PM Brian Lam | iTunes 7.4.1 is out. No idea if it musses up your iPhone haxx that you just finished reinstalling after yesterday’s 7.4 update. Happy Friday night, i’m still stuck in Denver. This is why I’m blogging about iTunes 0.1 updates. UPDATE: Ringtones are fine, as setup by SendSong. More »
Wall Mounted Aquarium is the Next Best Thing to a TV
12:04PM Gizmodo US Edition | Aqua Photo, a Korean based company, did the most logical thing to an aquarium, they mounted it on the wall and made it look like a TV. With specs that sound more like a TV rather than a fish tank, this aquarium has a 1460 x 640 cm mm measurement, 100 watt back light, and a 35 fish capacity. At $2132, the Aqua Photo Wall Mounted Aquarium even has the huge price of an expensive TV. [Uber-Review via tfts] More »
Card Managing Wallet Keeps You Neater Than a German
10:33AM Gizmodo US Edition | Be James Bondian in your payment method with the Card Managing Wallet — a shiny metal “wallet” that holds your cards in handy, ejectable slots. Especially great if you have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the wallet comes in two different sizes — a 6-card holder for $39.99 and a 12-card holder for $59.99. Useful in theory, sure — but what if I have two Visas? And, more importantly, where exactly does my cash go? [UberReview via UberGizmo] More »
Thought-Controlled Wheel Chair Helps the Disabled
9:56AM Gizmodo US Edition | A wheel chair being developed by Ambient will allow users to control its movement with just their thoughts — a breakthrough device that could be a huge help for the paralyzed. Called the Audeo, the chair works by intercepting brain signals sent to your larynx and decoding them to match previously recorded words, such as “forward,” “back,” or “fire laser.” Luckily, there is no complex cyborg-like surgery involved, as the device works by using a sensor-covered neckband to detect the brain signals and wirelessly transmit them to a nearby computer for processing. Theoretically, the signals can also be sent to a speech synthesizer, allowing a paralyzed user to speak with all the intensity and creepiness of Stephen Hawking. Pretty amazing in its simplicity, I’m curious to see how accurate this thing is and that it won’t be sending our handicapped flying backwards into traffic. [Ambient via SciFi] More »
iPort Dock Hooks iPod and iPhone Up to Network
9:55AM Gizmodo US Edition | If there’s one thing better than a new iPod and/or iPhone it’s the new iPod and/or iPhone caged, networked and ready to do your bidding. The iPort in-wall dock is essentially a pretty box that you can hang on a wall that will allow you to fully control your iPod or iPhone from anywhere in your house — as long as your entire house is networked. The gadget is slick, I’ll give it that, but $200 dollars for the one-way unit is a bit steep — even if your iPhone rebate does buy half of it. By the way, there’s also a two-way $800 dollar version, you know, if you’ve completely lost your mind. [MediaMentalism via MobileMentalism] More »
Sharp AQUOS LC-19D44U 19-incher Loses Dick Contest, Wins Our Hearts
9:32AM Charlie White | In the dick contest that is CEDIA, the little screens sometimes get overlooked. But we didn’t miss the LC-19D44U, a 19-incher AQUOS from Sharp that shows that size doesn’t always matter. Destined for kitchens and equipped with one of the sharpest screens we saw, it was the only brand new TV set introduced by the company here at CEDIA. It’s the first 16×9 set this small made by Sharp, and even though it’s just 720p, it’s packing lots of pixels into a small space. More »
